|
Poulin and Stacey Announce Their Engagement |
|
|
|
|
|
Ek’s note. This is just a wonderful story posted by Karine! Follow her! @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
In a year where LGBTQ+ nights in the NHL have made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, it was a breath of fresh air to see Marie-Philip Poulin’s Instagram post yesterday announcing her engagement to Team Canada teammate Laura Stacey. As the day went on, numerous media outlets ran the news and unfortunately, there were plenty of negative reactions.
Some said that if it was the captain of a men’s team prying on a rookie like that, no one would be celebrating, the problem with that affirmation is that Marie-Philip Poulin is 32 while Laura Stacey is 29 and by no means a rookie nor does a 3-year age gap make Poulin a cradle robber. Others said that it would be detrimental to Team Canada and create a problem on the ice, clearly they’re not aware that the couple has been dating for years and that it has never impacted their play on the ice or player personnel decisions made by the coaches. Others complained that if a Team Canada player had gotten engaged or married a man, media outlets wouldn’t have reported it. I guess they didn’t see the stories about Nathalie Spooner’s wedding in 2021.
The two athletes have been playing for Team Canada for years including for the Pyeongchang and Beijing Olympics in 2018 and 2022 winning silver and gold and they’ve also participated in 5 World Championships together capturing 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals. Marie-Philip Poulin no longer needs any introduction, she’s the best female hockey player in the world and her resume speaks for itself. She’s the ultimate clutch player having scored 3 gold medal winning goals in her Olympic career (2010, 2014 and 2022) which has earned her the nickname “Captain Clutch”. As for Stacey, she joined the national program in 2010 as part of the under-18 team but she was cut from the National senior team for four straight years before finally cracking the roster in 2017 for the World Championship when Canada claimed silver. Since the folding of the CWHL, both athletes have been involved with the PWHPA playing with the Montreal-based team during the Dream Gap Tour.
The international women hockey scene has already given us 3 weddings to bridge the Canada-America divide, Meghan Duggan and Gillian Apps tied the knot in 2018, Julie Chu and Caroline Ouellette did the same and had their first child together in 2017 and Kathleen Kauth and Jayna Hefford began dating in 2013. The world has come a long way since then and with the increased presence of social media, athletes are revealing more things about their personal life and that’s quite alright. Whether some want to admit it or not, there are a lot of girls out there living in the closet and struggling to come out to their friends and family. Seeing successful people do just that and go on to have a long and happy relationship is something that they need. No one can be happy when they don’t accept themselves and that’s why this is newsworthy, to help everyone to live their life as they please and wish, after all, love is love.
Join the Discussion:
»